Melanie Smith-Rogers had woken up but had not yet opened her eyes. She was pretty sure she knew what she would see when she did. The theme of last night had been nostalgia. Harkening back to the very first time her and her now wife, Katie Smith-Rogers had had sex. The first morning after, Melanie had woken up to find Katie staring down at her with love in her eyes. Over the next few months when they were able to spend the night with each other, the love in Katie's eyes was always the first thing she would see in the morning. For the last four years they had been college roommates and it had become an almost daily occurrence.
Melanie had missed this yesterday as she and Katie had decided they could not see each other on the day of their wedding until they got to the service. It was superstitious, but athletes often are and both Katie and Melanie were high-level athletes. They had been soccer players for the reigning Division I Women's College Soccer Champions this past school year. In fact, Katie was going to be an assistant coach for the team this year while Melanie finished up her Master's Degree at the same university where they had played.
Melanie kept her eyes closed for a little bit longer as she built up her anticipation for what she was going to see when she opened them. She really didn't know why it was that Katie did this every morning. But then again, why did she get so excited knowing that Katie would be right there when she opened her eyes?
It was time and Melanie opened her eyes and saw the emerald- green eyes and the round, cherubic face of her wife, just as she knew she would. And when Melanie saw Katie's emerald-green eyes light up as she awoke, and saw them fill with joy and love, she answered her second question. Seeing how happy Katie was to be with her and how much Katie loved her was something she would always treasure and never tire of experiencing.
For Katie, this had not originally been something she planned. That first morning, after their first night together, she just woke up before Melanie. She wanted to shake Melanie, wake her up, spend time with her. She didn't want to miss a second of time with Melanie now that she realized she was in love with her. But she didn't want to upset her after such an amazing night. And besides, she looked so beautiful lying there. Katie decided she would just look at her beautiful face and wait for her to rouse.
So, that first morning, Katie was looking at Melanie when she opened her eyes. She took a second to focus and then saw Katie and smiled. BANG! Katie melted inside at that smile. It spoke without words of the incredible amount of love that Melanie had to give and she was going to give it to Katie.
Four years later it still hit her that hard every time. When Melanie opened her eyes this morning and saw Katie and smiled, BANG! Unfortunately, there wasn't time this morning to revel in the feelings. "Okay, Katie we've got a bunch of stuff to do. You go ahead and get in the shower. I'll go down and get us clothes, what do you want to wear on the plane?"
"Just shorts and a tee-shirt. Any pair will do."
"Okay, great. I'll bring up the clothes and make sure the Uber is on the way. Then when I'm in the shower, I'll need you to gather up the sheets and bring them down to the laundry room."
Katie and Melanie got ready to leave on their honeymoon. They gathered all of the their stuff and Melanie left the note for her mother. They brought the bags out to the curb as the Uber pulled up. They got to the airport early and since it was Sunday morning, it was not very crowded. However, most of the people in the airport seemed to be huddled at their gate. The honeymoon was going to be at Walt Disney World. There appeared to be a few other couples and a lot of families with children. The girls were glad they had their Airpods.
The plane started to board at 10:30. As they were not boarding until way in the back, Melanie decided to make a quick call to her mother to let her know about the dresses being at the house.
"Hello Melanie, where are you?"
"Hi Mom. We're at the airport. The plane is going to start boarding now. I wanted to call to let you know that we spent last night at the house, so the dresses are in the living room. I thought I might get you in the car."
"No, we slept in and are only checking out now."
"WE?"
"Yes, Melanie, we. Now go get on your plane. We'll talk more when you get back to California."
"Okay, Mom. Say hi to Carol for me."
"Who said I was here with Carol?"
"MOM!"
"Alright, just teasing you. Have a great time and say hi to Katie for Carol and me."
Katie perked up when she heard her mother's name and then Melanie's exclamation piqued her curiosity even more. "What's up?"
"It seems our mothers spent the night at the hotel together." Melanie had a huge grin on her face. Katie smiled too. While getting Carol and Jen together was something Melanie had been trying to engineer for some time, Katie also knew that her mother would be very happy with Jen in her life. So if that was working out, great.
Their zone was called and Melanie said, "Oh no, I forgot to send Jo the pictures."
"We'll have time once we're seated."
They got on the plane, stowed their carry-ons and Melanie set about sending her text to Jo, with attachments. However, Melanie was very clear to Jo in her text message, "
On hnymoon DNC! CU Sat @ airport njoy pix"
Then Melanie put her phone on airplane mode. When they landed at Orlando and Melanie turned her phone back on, there was a reply text and three missed phone calls from Jo.
As they were finally getting to the baggage carousel, a text came in from Margaret, "
Pix gr8 imma making her stop cu sat njoy Disney
"
As Melanie was reading it, Katie said, "Who is that from?"
"Margaret."
"What's it say?"
"It says that Jo loves Margaret very much." as she showed the message to Katie.
"You know, I think they taught you different English then me when you were growing up in school." Melanie laughed.